The Grails: POTF ‘85 Carded Anakin Skywalker

Posted by Chris on 04/08/19 at 12:15 PM Category: Vintage Collection, The Grails

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This series explores vintage Kenner "holy grail" figures which could be made into modern Vintage Collection replicas by Hasbro.

Background

Spirit figures have come a long way. In 1984, when Anakin Skywalker was first released via a mail-away promotion, Kenner didn't even attempt any "spirit" effects. It was nothing more than Sebastian Shaw as an elderly, but living, Jedi. In an homage to this, Hasbro released a modern equivalent with the "Flashback" series Anakin Skywalker prior to the Episode I product launch. This was despite the fact that "spirit effect" figures were already being attempted by that time. Those were pejoratively referred to as "Old Spice" figures, as they were nothing more than chunks of translucent green-blue plastic resembling a stick of deodorant. So it was a case of Hasbro purposely "down engineering" a figure to match the limitations of 1984. This is something we generally don't approve of here. If, during the advance of time and technology, you can do it right, then do it right, dadgum! By 2007, Hasbro had perfected the "spirit effect' and delivered a great interpretation via the partially opaque Anakin Skywalker's Spirit.

As with the Carded Droids Boba Fett we highlighted earlier, loose samples of the Kenner Anakin Skywalker are nothing special. The supply is plentiful thanks to the aforementioned mail away promotion. Only the carded samples, and their accompanying collector coins, are scarce. High grade, clear bubble samples have sold for five figures. A low grade yellow bubble sample sold in February for $3,000. High grade samples of the coin alone will fetch thousands.

Ease of Release

The original Jedi Spirit Lineup

A spirit form of the figure with a head sculpt based on Sebastian Shaw's likeness should be the goal here, and it should be easily achievable as a minor retool. All it would take is a new head sculpt on the aforementioned TAC 30-45 Anakin Skywalker's Spirit plus a new coin. There is a modicum of genuine interest in such a spirit figure form the OOT purists, so the tooling effort would not be a waste.

Suggested Release

An Anakin Skywalker's Spirit figure based on Sebastian Shaw's likeness could be released in the mainline on a retconned Episode VI card, and the POTF '85 replica could be released via another platform (similar to the current situation with the mainline Saelt-Marae figure and the Sail Barge exclusive Yak Face figure). There are two possible suggestions for releasing the POTF replica. The first is obvious. If Hasbro ever releases an Endor themed Adventure Set, the "box-in-a-box" concept can be extended to this proposal (this would also be a way for us to get an updated Ewok Village Leia). [Editor's Note: Vader's Funeral Pyre?] If that is not in the offing, going back to this figure's roots as a mail-away figure also makes sense (just don't announce the offer via a sticker on the card).

Summary

Whenever I talk to the Hasbro peeps, I always say "everything seems easy from where I sit." I mean that sympathetically. Fan sites can act as "dreamers" and just spitball ideas without having to worry about real world constraints. Actual Hasbro employees have no such luxury. They have to deal with license oversight, international law, budgets, and all manor of real world ickiness. And making wrong decisions may have consequences for them, career-wise. So I'm not going to use the word "easy" here and instead say "doable." This seems like a "doable" release that would generate a lot of excitement among long term collectors.